Travel can be a way to see the future (and experience the past), with Kevin Kelly

“”I wasn’t partying. I wasn’t relaxing on the beach. I was photographing – working – every minute of the day. That was a means to see as much as I possibly could. And to keep looking.”  –Kevin Kelly

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin discuss the ambitions and connections that led Kevin to Asia not long after high school (2:30); how Kevin’s interest in photography affected his experience of Asia (7:30); how seeing other cultures gave him perspective on his own culture, and on himself, and his countrymen (15:00); how photography gave him intensified attention to what in the world might be changing (23:00); how AI and other technology are changing how we live, create, and travel (30:00); how to travel in such a way that you are open to phenomenon and experiences you don’t know of yet, and how technology might enable a “protopia” future (40:00).

Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) is a co-founder of Wired magazine, a co-founder of the Rosetta Project, and he serves on the board of the Long Now Foundation. He is a photographer, writer, and futurist, with much of his work centering on Asian and digital culture. His three-volume photo book Vanishing Asia draws on 50 years of vagabonding travel experiences, and his newest book, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier, debuts in May of 2023.

Notable Links:

• The Vagabond’s Way, by Rolf Potts (book)
• Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman (poetry book)
• Communitas (egalitarian ethos of shared interest)
• Jan Chipchase (design innovator)
• Wired (magazine)
• Rick Prelinger (American archivist)
• Stewart Brand (founder of the Whole Earth Catalog)
• Shenzhen (city in China)
• A Pattern Language (1977 urban design book)
• “What AI-Generated Art Means for Human Creativity” (article)
• “A Brief History of Smell-O-Vision” (article)
• Burning Man (event in the US)
• Kumbh Mela (event in India)
• Musical.ly (defunct social media app)
• “Forget Utopia. Ignore Dystopia. Embrace Protopia!” (article)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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